Daily updates about Syria

8/28/2014

5 people, including a child and 3 women, were injured by barrel bombs dropped on Saraqib in Idlib province.

People fleeing their homes during the airstrikes:

4 people in Kafr Basin, Idlib, were killed by barrel bombs.

There were reports of a government gas attack on the village of Saida in Idlib which injured 40 people.

Fighting is still ongoing in Quneitra province around the area near the border crossing with the Golan Heights that rebels captured yesterday.

At least 6 rebels have died today in the fighting and by airstrikes.

A video showing Jabhat al-Nusra fighting and raising a flag over the crossing:

An interview with a Syrian State TV reporter in English about the situation. He claims that the Islamic State is involved in the fighting, but there is nothing to back that up as far as I know:

A Reuters photo gallery of fighting around the border crossing taken from the Israeli side of the border: http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?articleId=USRTR4406T&utm_source=twitter#a=8

A Jabhat al-Nusra fighter in Quneitra fighting around the border crossing with the Golan Heights.

The UN said that 43 Peacekeepers in the Golan Heights were taken prisoner by an “armed group” during fighting around the border crossingin Quneitra today, and that 81 others are trapped “in the vicinity of ar-Ruwayhinah and Burayqah.

There are around 1,200 total peacekeepers stationed in the Golan Heights.

The group is suspected to be Jabhat al-Nusra, but the UN did not confirm this.

Rebels firing on the Tal Kroum hill, near the border post that they captured yesterday, in Quneitra:

The camp has been under siege by the government for the last year, and the government has been accused of letting in just enough aid to let up international pressure, but not enough to hlp the majority of the people in the camp.

18,000 people currently live in the camp and more than 100 people have starved to death since the siege began.

A promotional video for the Syrian Civil Defense for the White Helmets campaign:

5 Islamic State fighters were killed in a YPG ambush near the Sarrin Grain Silos, southwest of Kobani in Aleppo province.

28 civilians were killed by airstrikes in eastern Aleppo.

18 people died in al-Bab.

4 people died in Tadef.

6 people died in al-Ghiyta.

A barrel bomb in Inkhel, Daraa province:

Qais Qatana, the leader of the FSA-affiliated al-Omari Brigade was shot 3 times and assassinated in southern Daraa.

Dead Hezbollah fighters in Qalamoun:

In Qalamoun, the Islamic State beheaded Ali Al-Sayyed, a Lebanese Armed Forces soldier who was captured during the fighting a few weeks ago in the Lebanese town of Arsal.

They said that Hezbollah had tried to disrupt “negotiations”, and that if it happens again, another soldier will be executed. The IS is still holding 10 other prisoners from the LAF and ISF.

Jabhat al-Nusra is still holding 15 ISF and 3 LAF prisoners.

Ali al-Sayyed.

Ali al-Sayyed.

One Lebanese soldier is missing after gunmen ambushed a 5-member team that he was part of in the border village of al-Rahwe. The 4 other soldiers were rescued by reinforcements from the Lebanese military.

The Syrian Air Force conducted airstrikes on the gunmen in conjunction with the Lebanese military’s fighting.

It isn’t clear who the gunmen are, the Lebanese press is only referring to them as “militants”.

The man might be one of the soldiers who defected to Jabhat al-Nusra earlier in the month:

The Islamic State executed “dozens” of SAA soldiers last night in al-Raqqa who it found as they were fleeing west to government-held territory.

The Islamic State executed 40 soldiers that it has been holding since it overran the Tabqa Airbase on Sunday. The men were executed in the al-Hamrat area near ar-Raqqa city.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 120 SAA prisoners from the airbase have been executed by the IS in the last 24 hours.

The number of soldiers who have been killed and executed by the IS since they over-ran the Tabqa Airbase is unknown, but most sources are claiming 200-250.

An estimated 500 soldiers from the Tabqa Airbase are still on the run or have been captured while fleeing over the last few days. Of the 1,400 soldiers who were in the base, 200-250 have been killed and 700 others successfully retreated.

A photo claiming to show an SAA soldier who was executed by the IS in al-Raqqa.

A video showing what appears to be soldiers from the Tabqa Airbase in al-Raqqa who were executed by the Islamic State:

Bellingcat is currently working to geolocate the site where the prisoners were taken and executed: https://bellingcat.checkdesk.org/en/story/60

The Islamic State announced that there will be a Sharia session for teachers and school directors in al-Raqqa.

A list released by the IS of requirements for public education: http://www.aymennjawad.org/2014/08/the-islamic-state-educational-regulations-in

Rebels using a Hell Cannon somewhere in Latakia:

Safwan Akkash, the secretary for the Local Coordination Commission and a leader in the Communist Labor Party was arrested at an Air Force Intelligence checkpoint near Deir Baalba in Homs.

This his his third arrest since 2012.

Jamal Maarouf, the leader of the Syria Revolutionaries Front, submitted a complaint to the Supreme Military Council, of which he is a member, which called on them to hold their meetings in rebel-held areas within Syria instead of in Istanbul, since rebel leaders can’t attend those meetings.

He said he would be willing to provide a secure location at which to hold the meetings, and that he will disregard any decisions made at SMC meetings held abroad.

The Islamic State beheaded a 22 year-old university student named Qassim Muhammed Jumaa earlier this week in Deir Ez Zor on charges of supporting the government. After stopping him at a checkpoint, they searched his phone and found a photo of President Assad. He was placed under arrest for 2 days and then beheaded.

His parents were made to watch his execution in public.

The Islamic State has water-boarded at least 4 of the prisoners that it is holding, including James Foley.

They apparently modeled the method to how prisoners held in Guantanamo were water-boarded by the CIA.

A chart by the Economist showing the number of foreign fighters that have come from 24 countries.